While Mexican leaders continue to complain about President Trump's plan for a border wall to stem illegal immigration, the next president of Mexico is planning to establish a border force to stop illegal immigrants, drugs and guns from entering his country from Central America.
The future chief of public security for President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Alfonso Durazo, told Bloomberg News the new force would be part of a larger regional development effort.
Durazo said the sizable police corps also will be deployed to Mexico’s northern border.
"We're going to create a border police force that will be highly specialized," Durazo said in the interview.
The force, he said, will "apply the law," including stopping illegal migrants and human traffickers from crossing into Mexico with the help of corrupt officials.
In last weeks election, Lopez Obrador and the four-year-old, left-wing party he formed won a landslide victory by focusing on the public's disgust with rising crime, corruption and poverty.
While his pledge to protect Mexicans against an immigrant crackdown by President Donald Trump, proved popular, he is confronted with the problem of securing his own southern border, Bloomberg noted.
Lopez Obrador will not take office until Dec. 1, but he will meet Friday with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The president-elect said Mexico’s failed security strategy needs to be overhauled.
In an effort to fight corruption, he said his new government will significantly increase salaries and benefits for law enforcement officials and create more police academies.